Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Practical down to earth “life skills” are in much demand today. Wisdom, or God-sense, is a priceless commodity. Have you ever needed to know what to do or say? I’m sure you have! In this crazy world we often find ourselves in human dilemmas that need far more than our small human effort to solve. We need wisdom.

I’m not talking about world-shattering problems, either. Family problems need as much mature diplomacy as do tribal disputes or all-out wars around the planet! For example, have you ever faced a teenager asking if he can go with his friends for a bike ride or a jaunt in a car, to a movie or party, and not known what to say? When our family came to live in the U.S., our children were eleven, nine, and seven. As they roared into their teenage years we were in a very different and, to me, frightening culture. I felt very unsure of myself. I would have known if it was safe in England. What is a mother to do when the kids learn to drive so early here and want to go cruising around town? (They didn’t even have access to a car until they were working in the UK.) I needed wisdom from on high! I needed God-sense. Looking back on the years of winging those “Help Lord, give me wisdom” prayers heavenward, I thank God for protection, correction, and direction. He gave me wisdom well beyond my years and experience. Not that I always got it right – ask my kids!

Have you had to face a spouse who you have just discovered has betrayed you? What do you say? Where on earth do you start? Have you needed to terminate an employee? Have you anguished over a move, a letter that must be written, a church squabble that needs to be resolved? And what about sorting out things after a death in the family? Where there’s a will there’s a quarrel, so they say. Whoever “they” are – they are so often right!

So where do we start learning these spiritual street smarts? In the spiritual realm. We can turn to the wisdom of Ecclesiastes in the Word of God. “And who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Cor. 2:16, KJV). He is! For this we have Jesus, who is our wisdom.

To keep our heads and live lives of sanity in a world gone crazy, we need the wisdom of Solomon. Wisdom is spiritual intelligence. It’s being savvy about managing your life choices and behavior. It’s deep knowledge that copes with your fallenness, and learns how to relate to fallen people living alongside you in a fallen world. It’s down-to-earth good advice. It’s being part of working out difficult relationships and helping others to do the same. It is far more than human intelligence, people skills, or a good education. It is the “know how” to know “when and what” to say or do in a complicated situation. Wisdom is given by the Spirit of God when we are converted to Christ and become a Christian. And God is faithful to keep on increasing our wisdom as we continue asking – and studying His Word. Ask God for some God-sense as you face all of the unknowns today!

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